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THE PALM BEACH POST * THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2008¶
Girls’ lawsuit claims sex assaults¶
BILL INGRAM/Staff Photographer¶
Attorney Jeffrey Herman, whose clients are suing Palm Beacher Jeffrey Epstein, speaks Wednesday outside the county stockade.¶
The minors are seeking millions from financier Jeffrey Epstein.¶
By BILL DiPAOLO¶
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer¶
Two underage girls are accusing Palm Beach financier Jeffrey Epstein of sexually assaulting them in a federal civil lawsuit filed Wednesday by their Miami attorney.¶
Epstein has been in jail since pleading guilty in June to solicitation of prostitution of underage girls. He is serving an 18-month sentence.¶
“Both girls are seeking a measure of justice. This is a beginning of their healing process,” said attorney Jeffrey Herman.¶
Herman is seeking damages of more than $100 million.¶
Epstein has the assets to cover the punitive damages, said Herman, adding that the financier owns an island off St. Thomas and property in New Mexico and New York.¶
There are four pending federal civil lawsuits and one in state court pertaining to Epstein’s relationships with minors. At least one woman has sued him in New York.¶
Upon his release, Epstein, 55, will be under house arrest for a year and must register¶
for life as a sex offender. He will be under a curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and must have no unsupervised contact with anyone younger than 18. He also cannot own nor possess pornographic or sexual materials, according to court documents.¶
The two girls, ages 13 and 16, met with investigators during the 11-month investigation by Palm Beach police. They are identified as “Jane Doe No. 6” and “Jane Doe No. 7” in documents filed Wednesday in the West Palm Beach section of U.S. District Court.¶
The 13-year-old visited Epstein’s $8.5 million Intracoastal mansion once and had sex with him, according to the lawsuit. The 16-year-¶
old visited the mansion many times in two years for the same reason, Herman said. Both were brought to the mansion by friends, he said.¶
The charges against Epstein stemmed from a complaint to Palm Beach police about two years ago from a relative of a 14-year-old girl who had given him a naked massage at his 7,234-square-foot home. He paid the girls $200 to $300 each after the massage sessions, police said.¶
Police concluded that there were several other girls brought to the home in 2004 and 2005 for similar reasons.¶
Staff writer Larry Keller contributed to this story.¶